Politics
Thousands of people, led by opposition parties, staged a protest in India’s capital, New Delhi, on Sunday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
New Delhi: Thousands of people, led by opposition parties, staged a protest in India’s capital, New Delhi, on Sunday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The demonstrators described the process of revising voter lists as controversial and alleged that it was being used to give the ruling party an unfair advantage. According to media reports, a nationwide revision of electoral rolls in India has triggered political controversy and street protests over the past month in the world’s largest democracy.
India’s Election Commission says the exercise is necessary to make voter lists accurate and transparent. However, opposition parties allege that the process is being used to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both the Election Commission and the BJP have rejected these allegations. On Sunday, protesters led by Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the opposition Congress party, marched from central areas of New Delhi to Ramlila Maidan. Beating drums, demonstrators chanted slogans such as, “Vote thieves, and vacate your seats!”
Nandita, a 46-year-old participant in the demonstration, told AFP that she had been voting since the age of 18 but had recently discovered that her name had been removed from the electoral roll. She gave only her first name. She said that, given the direction in which the country was heading, taking part in the protest was necessary. With inflation continuing to rise, she added, peaceful demonstrations in the streets were the only way to express public concerns.
More than 133 million people have had their names removed from India’s electoral rolls as a result of the revision process. These figures have been reported by Indian media and are also cited in documents submitted to the court by opposition parties. Critics say the removals have disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims. Hindu nationalist members of the BJP have long alleged that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have illegally registered themselves on Indian electoral rolls. Election officials, however, say the purpose of the revision was to remove duplicate entries, deceased individuals and fraudulent registrations from voter lists. According to the authorities, eligible voters can still apply to have their names included in the electoral rolls.
International human rights organization Human Rights Watch has described the removal of names from voter lists as arbitrary and seriously flawed. In a statement issued this week, the organisation said authorities should immediately halt the revision process, which it said had deprived some of India’s most disadvantaged communities of their right to vote and access to other government services.
The online youth-led protest movement known as the “Cockroach Janata Party” has also played an active role in campaigning against the revision of voter lists. During demonstrations held last month, several of the movement’s leaders were temporarily detained by police. Founded in May, the movement has gained millions of followers on social media. Earlier, in July, protests organised by the Cockroach movement against irregularities in examinations reportedly led to the resignation of the education minister, marking an unusual setback for the Modi government.
